Bears, City Must Not Slam Door on Talks

Like a couple mired in a bitter divorce, City Hall and theChicago Bears are risking their long-term well-being for thesatisfaction of getting the best of each other right now.

Negotiations that will decide whether the Bears stay in Chicagoor move to Gary have deteriorated into messy, confrontational animus.All this posturing must be exhausting. We suggest both sides take arest.

In the latest round of dirt-dishing this week, the Bearsboycotted negotiations and both sides vowed not to "negotiate in thepress." Both, then, promptly raced to every newspaper and openmicrophone in town to present their own versions of the truth, whichremained decidedly at odds.

The Bears, for instance, produced well-credentialed experts whoasserted that Mayor Daley's Soldier Field renovation plan cannot beaccomplished for the stated price of $170 million and that the designis fatally flawed.

"Lies!" countered the city's architects of the Soldier Fieldrehab. The Bears, they say, are angling for a no-risk guarantee.

Meanwhile, all of this sniffing about design inadequacies andthe supposed standards of NFL fans only stiffens the mayor's resolveto send the Bears packing if they don't like the city's offer.

A fine mess, indeed. It is impossible for those of us on theoutside to separate fact from fiction in these apparently deadlockednegotiations. But there are a few things we can determine.

One is that Bears owner Michael McCaskey is not running thewhole show. The taxpayers have a stake, too. No public-privatepartnership is ever based on one party assuming no risk and all thebenefits. Hence, Daley's proposal in Cleveland Thursday to requireNFL franchises to repay all public funds spent on a stadium if theteam leaves before the end of its lease.

Also, because public money is involved, the mayor can talk aboutthe negotiations all day and all night if he pleases. The Bears arewelcome to present their figures, too, and talk about them.

We remain supportive of the Soldier Field plan. We would liketo see this national landmark continue to be a vital part of the cityfor a long time to come. This renovation plan offers a way to dothat without shortchanging the city's other funding priorities.

But if the sides are hopelessly deadlocked, every option -including the sidelined McDome stadium proposal - must be reopenedand fully considered before the door closes for the last time and theBears go packing.

Perhaps, like the divorcing couple, the two sides see nothing togain at this point in being conciliatory. Perhaps it would besatisfying to slam the door and storm off.

But down the road, both would find that they'd gained nothing,and compromised the interests of many in the process.